An Evening With Frankie Avalon will be at 8 p.m. Oct. 19 in the Bezemes Family Theater at Lindenwood University in St. Charles. Call the box office at 636-949-4433 or email scheidegger@lindenwood.edu for more information.

The Rangers 370 Lakeside Fishing Derby will be from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at 370 Lakeside Park, 1000 Lakeside Park Drive, just off Highway 370. Prizes will be awarded in two age divisions: ages 6-12, and 13 and up. Cost is $5 per person. Advance registration is available in person at the St. Peters Rec-Plex, 5200 Mexico Road, by phone at 636-939-2386, ext. 1400, or online using the Rec-Connect registration feature. Same-day registration also will be available.

In the end, there was no art. Only science. And this was sort of the problem, wasn’t it? After five-plus years of watching everything break bad, the finale gave us 75 minutes of watching everything break just right. There was plenty of sweet coincidence and even sweeter revenge. The timing was deliberate, and immaculate. Where Heisenberg’s plans once rained down on Albuquerque with all the grace and subtlety of an exploded airliner, Walt’s endgame tumbled like dominoes. Everything, even the promised M60, fizzed and popped so perfectly it felt almost sterile. Walt — and at the end it was only Walt — finally got his clean lab, his pristine experiment. As he lay dying, surrounded by the beakers and tubes that were his most constant companions, he could smile and rest easy knowing that the purity of his last cook was 100 percent.

Breaking Bad wasn’t a procedural and it wasn’t (exactly) a period piece. It was a mystery box filled with working gears and expertly soldered wires. It grounded dizzying flights of visual fancy with a blue-collar love of process, a dedication to the solid, unglamorous work of getting a story from point A to point Crazy and back again. It was, at once, flammable and controlled, the charming Winnebago and the ruthless superlab. For good or bad, there was always a scientific method to its madness. This was a breathtaking, risky story that always remembered to keep its gas mask on, its hazmat suit zipped. In the end, as in the beginning, Breaking Bad was just too smart to go totally wild.

But was it equally satisfying? I’m not so sure. In many ways, the story of Breaking Bad ended last week: a dying, bitter man got away with murder; his punishment was surviving long enough to see his empire reduced to recriminations and dust. “Felina” gave Walt a chance for a rewrite and Vince Gilligan and his merry crew of chemists a chance to take every loose end remaining from the preceding 61 hours and tie them together in a decorative dragonfly knot. There weren’t many surprises — yes, the gun was for the Nazis; the ricin, now and forever, meant for Lydia — but there was closure. There’s been a great deal of talk these past few weeks about how Gilligan is a moralist, but I have to say, I have my doubts. After last night, I’d say he’s an aesthete, one who admires clean lines and elegant design above all else. In this, Jesse’s golden-hued woodworking fantasy seemed more like an OCD dream on loan from his creator than the actual imaginings of an imprisoned meth cook. Appreciating Breaking Bad is like appreciating architecture; its form is inseparable from its function.

The Second Annual Fall Craft Show will be from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 19 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 8945 Veteran’s Memorial Parkway, O’Fallon. The event will feature handcrafted, handmade and craft items. Food and drink will be available for purchase. Vendors are still being accepted. Call Laura Hoffman at 314-724-6671.